Life Worth Living: A guide to what matters most

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Exercising our own imaginations and creative power can bring joy, but so can admiring the creativity of others in the form of art, music, literature, film, and more. The chance to find your people I can see how this course helps students to think about how they might think about their lives differently. Broom, D.M.; Fraser, A.F. Domestic Animal Behaviour and Welfare, 5th ed.; CABI: Wallingford, UK, 2015; pp. 55–56. [ Google Scholar]

Fraser, D.; Weary, D.M.; Pajor, E.A.; Milligan, B.N. A scientific conception of animal welfare that reflects ethical concerns. Anim. Welfare 1997, 6, 187–205. [ Google Scholar] Passion can be negative or positive, however. Negative passions, referred to as obsessive passions, are maladaptive and lead to unhealthy behaviors; these types of passions should be avoided. On the other hand, positive, harmonious passions improve our behavior and lead to optimal functioning.Music can transport us to a different space and connect us to something outside ourselves. It has served this purpose for millennia. But what about current hopes you haven’t yet acted upon? Each day brings another chance to dust off those hopes and breathe new life into them. To prove the naysayers wrong Spinka, M.; Wemelsfelder, F. Environmental challenge and animal agency. In Animal Welfare, 2nd ed.; Appleby, M.C., Mench, J.A., Olsson, I.A.S., Hughes, B.O., Eds.; CAB International: Wallingford, UK, 2011; pp. 27–43. [ Google Scholar] Blache, D.; Terlouw, C.; Maloney, S.K. Physiology. In Animal Welfare, 2nd ed.; Appleby, M.C., Mench, J.A., Olsson, I.A.S., Hughes, B.O., Eds.; CAB International: Wallingford, UK, 2011; pp. 155–182. [ Google Scholar]

Observant readers might comment that these are questions typically asked about our vocations or professional activities. However, people who are unemployed or employed part time also ask questions such as these and seek a meaningful life. These questions are easily repurposed for other spheres of our lives. Nordenfelt, L. Animal and Human Health and Welfare: A Comparative Philosophical Analysis; CABI: Wallingford, UK, 2006. [ Google Scholar] Each of us must become impassioned, finding meaning and self-fulfillment in our own life’s journey. One prisoner manages to escape. Turned towards the entry of the cave, he first notices the brightness of the light – like knowledge, the light is uncomfortable and disruptive after years of contentment with shadows. Baumans, V. Environmental enrichment for laboratory rodents and rabbits: Requirements of rodents, rabbits, and research. ILAR J. 2005, 46, 162–170. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] [ PubMed]Portas, T. Achieving positive animal welfare outcomes in zoos and aquariums. In When Coping Is Not Enough: Promoting Positive Welfare States in Animals, Proceedings of the RSPCA Scientific Seminar 2013, Canberra, Australia, 26 February 2013; RSPCA Australia: Canberra, Australia, 2013; pp. 46–50. [ Google Scholar] In A Life Worth Living, named after its authors’ highly sought-after undergraduate course, Volf, Croasmun, and McAnnally-Linz chart out this question, providing readers with jumping-off points, road maps, and habits of reflection for figuring out where their lives hold meaning and where things need to change.

Before we can answer the question of how to find meaning, we first need to consider what is meant by ‘meaning.’

Finding meaning in life is a journey that could start with something as simple as a pen and paper, deep reflection, and one of our tools mentioned above. Or your journey could start by stepping out the door and connecting with a neighbor, making a newfound friend, or starting a hobby you have wanted to explore but never got around to. Anonymous. European Communities (Welfare of Farmed Animals) Regulations; The Statutory Office, Government Publications Sale Office: Dublin, Ireland, 2010. For the past few days, she’s been asking the people around her – kids, friends, co-workers – what they think makes life worth living, and the answers have been pretty much of a sort: family, friends, work, music, some possession or other, faith, maybe health. Computer games. Koene, P. Behavioral ecology of captive species: Using behavioural adaptations to assess and enhance welfare of nonhuman zoo animals. J. Appl. Anim. Welfare Sci. 2013, 16, 360–380. [ Google Scholar] [ CrossRef] [ PubMed]

Ch 4 “the trouble with pleasure isn’t that it feels good, it’s that we get invested in it feeling good. It draws our attention from what really matters. It drives us to have an exaggerated concern for ourselves and for what will satisfy our cravings.” Ch 2 “what if ultimately, you answer to God for the shape of your life, how would your life have to change?” Mayer L, et al. (2020). Anticipated suicide stigma, secrecy, and suicidality among suicide attempt survivors. Anonymous. Second Report on Priorities for Research and Development in Farm Animal Welfare; Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: London, UK, 1993. [ Google Scholar]Before we get to the practical suggestions about how to live a meaningful life, we first define what ‘meaningful’ means, explore why living a meaningful life is worthwhile, and detail the benefits that are associated with this type of experience. In some research, coherence, purpose, and significance have been reframed as motivational and cognitive processes. Specifically, Heintzelman and King (2014) suggest a model with three components: goal direction, mattering, and one’s life making sense. For example, if you have a passion for painting, you will carve out time to paint, experience a great deal of happiness when you complete the activity, and may embody that passion in your understanding of your identity (e.g., you may consider yourself a ‘painter’). Embodying the activity into your understanding of your self-concept is one of the first steps toward laying habits (Clear, 2018). Centenarians are more relaxed and easygoing (Samuelsson et al., 1997), place a great deal of importance on social relationships and events (Wong et al., 2014), have a more positive life attitude in general (Wong et al., 2014), and report low anxiety (Samuelsson et al., 1997).